Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 229 Hermione's Doubts

Compared to Tierra's perfect and happy Christmas holiday, Harry's Christmas holiday seemed less than ideal.

First, Harry learned that his father's best friend and his godfather was actually the culprit who killed his parents, which greatly dampened Harry's initial joy at receiving the Firebolt from Tierra.

Tierra's absence this Christmas dampened Harry's remaining joy, especially when she sent Ron a gift but didn't even send him a letter. That joy instantly turned into a slightly awkward feeling.

Harry didn't know why, even though his Firebolt was more valuable than Ron's gift, Harry was still a little annoyed—

Harry knew Hermione thought the same way, because compared to Harry and Ron, who had both received gifts—

Hermione got nothing.

On Christmas morning, Hermione searched through every single present under the Christmas tree in the Gryffindor common room—

But no, there wasn't a single gift under the Christmas tree that Tyrell gave to Hermione, not even a Christmas card.

But Hermione's frustration didn't end there—

On the second day of the Christmas holidays, Hermione and Harry, both in low spirits, decided to take Ron, who was in high spirits, to visit Hagrid.

When they arrived at Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the woods, they received bad news—

“Buckbeak… Waaah… Buckbeak might be sentenced to death!” Hagrid choked out, crying like a 300-pound… maybe 400-pound child.

“Those damn dangerous creature handling committee guys, they… they’ve got their hands on these interesting creatures… Waaah…” Hagrid cried.

Hagrid's hut was a little crowded, especially after Harry, Ron, and Hermione came in.

Hagrid's cabin is now teeming with all sorts of magical creatures—

The mutated, blast-tailed snail, the invisible beast that loves to take care of its babies, and of course, that harpy-headed horse-bodied beast, Buckbeak, are lying in the corner of the room, chewing on something, leaving blood flowing all over the floor.

“I can’t tie it to the snow with a rope,” Hagrid said, choking back tears after seeing the strange looks from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. “All alone, especially during the big Christmas.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged bewildered glances. They had never before seen this creature, which Hagrid called an "interesting animal" but which others described as a "terrible monster," face-to-face with Hagrid. Buckbeak, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any intention of harming anyone, but by Hagrid's usual standards, it was certainly endearing.

“Don’t give up, Hagrid. You have to prepare a strong defense.” Hermione said, sitting down next to Hagrid and patting his large forearm comfortingly. “I’ll help you. We just need to prove that Buckbeak won’t hurt anyone.”

“What did Dumbledore say, Hagrid?” Harry asked.

“Dumbledore has done enough for me.” Hagrid had stopped crying, but his voice was still a little hoarse. “Just keeping those Dementors out of the castle was difficult enough for him, not to mention Sirius Black wandering around everywhere…”

Ron and Hermione glanced quickly at Harry, as if expecting him to scold Hagrid for not telling him the truth about Black—

But Harry couldn't bring himself to do it because he now saw how miserable and frightened Hagrid was.

“Listen, Hagrid,” Harry said. “You can’t give up. Hermione’s right, you have to be prepared with a defense. You can call us witnesses! We can prove Buckbeak wasn’t harmful!” Finally, after they repeatedly assured him they would help, Hagrid blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and said, “You’re right, I can’t break down. I have to pull myself together!”

Tooth timidly emerged from under the table and rested its head on Hagrid's lap.

“I’ve been acting strange lately…” Hagrid said, rubbing his teeth with one hand and touching his face with the other. “I’m always worried about Buckbeak, and nobody likes my classes…”

“We love it!” Hermione immediately lied.

“Yeah, your class is great!” Ron said.

“If Tierra were here…” Hagrid said. “He could give me some advice… You know… the summer before Lockhart adopted him, he took care of these adorable little animals for me and came to see them often… This semester, for some reason… he seems to have suddenly lost interest in these little cuties…” Hagrid continued to complain. “And my little cuties seem to have suddenly stopped recognizing him… They’re as indifferent to him as strangers… And he didn’t give me any presents this year…”

Suddenly, as Hagrid was speaking, Hermione jumped up with a "whoosh"—

"W-what's wrong, Hermione?" Harry and Ron asked, as if they were startled.

"Oh...no, no...it's nothing..." Hermione slowly sat back down, her eyes flickering, clearly deep in thought...

The trip to Hagrid's cabin, though far from entertaining, certainly had some effect—

Harry stopped thinking about Sirius Black so much, and Hermione no longer had such a gloomy face—

The day after their visit to Hagrid, they went to the library. When they returned to the empty common room, their arms were full of books that might help them prepare a defense for Buckbeak. The three of them sat in front of the roaring fire, slowly turning the dusty files on famous cases of magical creatures injuring people, exchanging a few words occasionally when they came across one of them.

“Huh?” Harry suddenly said, pulling a few sheets of paper from under the pile of files, and then asked—

"Isn't this Tierra's homework?" Harry asked, puzzled. "What are you doing with it?"

“Oh…no, no, it’s nothing.” Hermione said, pulling Tyrell’s homework from Harry’s hands. “It’s just…it’s just…it’s just that I suddenly thought his handwriting had improved recently…so I asked the professors for it…I wanted to, I wanted to practice on my own…”

Hermione quickly shoved Tyella's homework behind her back.

“Let’s…let’s continue studying the files…” Hermione said.

Harry and Ron didn't seem to care, continuing to study the documents by the fireplace. This was practically how the three young wizards spent their Christmas holidays—

Because of Sirius's incident, Harry wasn't in the mood to play wildly as usual, while Hermione was always deep in thought with Tyella's homework. This left Ron all alone, and it wasn't good for him to keep dragging Harry and Hermione out to play, but Ron couldn't concentrate on reading the files.

Fortunately, Ron wasn't too bored, because he had a Christmas present from Tierra—

A large, shiny, and well-groomed black dog.

Five updates today, one more this afternoon. Thank you all for your support, and please vote with monthly tickets and recommendations!
Thank you to the self-awareness observer for casting their vote in February.
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(End of this chapter)